Moose Open with a Loss at Iowa

The Manitoba Moose (0-1-0-0) and Iowa Wild (1-0-0-0) clashed at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa to kick off the 2018-19 regular season. The teams took a little while to find their offence, combining for just 11 shots in the first period. The best chance of the frame came when the Wild seemed to have a wide open net to tuck the puck in, but Eric Comrie came sprawling back to make the best of his 23 saves on the night. Both Comrie and his counterpart Andrew Hammond held the teams off the scoreboard through 20 minutes.

The squads found some offence in the second period, starting off with Gerry Fitzgerald finishing off a two-on-one, accepting a feed from Gerald Mayhew and firing the puck into the net. The Wild lead held until the final moments of the frame when C.J. Suess wired home a one-timer past Hammond. JC Lipon created the play with a quick feed from behind the Iowa net. The two sides went to the break tied 1-1.

Iowa regained the lead midway through the third, courtesy of a Kyle Rau shorthanded goal, set up by Justin Kloos' hard drive to the Manitoba net. The Wild added some insurance late in the contest with a power play goal from Landon Ferraro with 3:22 remaining. The Moose called Comrie to the bench with two minutes remaining, and were nearly rewarded, but Hammond came up with a key stop before Ryan Murphy launched the puck down the ice for an empty netter with 42 seconds on the clock. That tally sealed a 4-1 Iowa victory.

Quick Hits

With his 137th appearance, Eric Comrie moved into sole possession of second on the franchise list for career games played by a goaltender.

Forward Seth Griffith played his 250th AHL game.

Defenceman Tucker Poolman has points in each of his last four AHL games with five assists.

Attendance was announced at 9,210.

What's Next?

The Moose have a day to regroup before taking on the Wild again on Sunday in a 3 p.m. CT matinee. Tune into the game through the Moose App or at moosehockey.com/listenlive.

Manitoba returns home to Bell MTS Place Friday, Oct. 12 for the Home Opener against the Belleville Senators at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at moosehockey.com/tickets.